Recommend a digital fast enough for car races?

[plymouthcolt]

I have a digital camera, Olymous D-520, that used to meet my needs. It's a simple camera that isn't overloaded with gizmos and options I will never use.

I went to a race and tried to take pictures-by the time the focus was ready the car was gone.

Would you recommend some cameras that are fast enough to capture Porsches racing around a track.

I know digital SLR's are all the rage, but they are overkill for me. I just don't have the skill to use all the features, and I don't went to spend $1,000 just to take pictures.

Are there non-SLR's capable of this task?

[Joeaksa]

I use a Leica Digilux 2 that I believe goes to 2000 on the shutter speed, so its more than fast enough.

Got it just under a year old for $900. Once again its a SLR and not sure you are going to find a camera with the range and speed that is not in this league. BTW, this camera is excellent and cannot be beat if you start looking in this range.

Joe A

[plymouthcolt]

THanks Joe I'll look into that camera. What is the minimum shutter speed I would need in order to capture a speeding car?

[Joeaksa]

Howard,

Depends on conditions. How fast is the car going, how fast are you panning and so on. Faster the better but as well faster usually means more money.

Assume that others on the forum will chime in with other ideas and perhaps someone can give some more advise on shutter speeds.

Joe A

[Steve Carlton]

Trying looking around on http://www.dpreview.com/ for some recommendations. I'd suggest something that has an adequate "burst" mode that will take several pictures in sequence. I picked up a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 online for $340 + accessories and have been very pleased with the bang for the buck.

[911pcars]

Howard,
Sometimes it's really not that important to freeze a moving subject with the faster shutter speed possible (1/4000 sec. in some cases). Panning or following the subject while exposing the picture can be accomplished using a relatively slow shutter speed. This technique results in a blurred background while keeping the moving subject in focus. You can do it at 1/125th of a sec. in normal daylight (also depends on how long or short the lens is). A long telephoto will need a faster shutter speed due to inherent camera shake. A tripod or monopod is invaluable to minimize camera shake.

Other than a fast shutter speed, of more importance is the shutter lag time. This is the time it takes for the camera to respond to your pressing the "shutter release" button. Obviously, the quicker the response, the better, otherwide one captures great photos of the background, sans subject matter as you've observed.

Most point-and-shoot cameras have a relatively lengthy shutter lag time. Most digital SLRs are fairly quick although some are slightly faster than others. The best dig. SLRs will rival a SLR film camera.

Another factor is how many "burst" pictures a camera can take. Again, the digital SLRs have better specs. And within those that can record many frames in a burst, there is the time it takes for all those images to be written to the memory card. During this time period, the camera must wait while the images are written before resuming regular operation (next shot). Again, some cameras are better in this respect than others.

There are so many specs to compare you'll become dizzy. I'd suggest concentrating on the features that best fit the type of photography you like to do, but also be aware of zoom range, lens/picture quality, ergonomics, battery life, build quality, etc. :-)

To begin your headache, here are just a few sites to visit for camera reports, comparisons and user comments.

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/

Hope this helps,
Sherwood

[cegerer]

An example of using a slow shutter speed as Sherwood describes; I like to use a 1/60 speed for panning trackside photos. If I had used a fast 1/500 or 1/1000 speed with this same photo, the cars would look like they're parked on the track. This photo was with an old Sony digital with adjustable shutter speed and aperature.

[plymouthcolt]

Thanks guys. i am in information overload mode right now. There are just too many choices.

[nostatic]

I think the bigger issue is the lens...you need a decent telephoto and none of the "pocket" digicams will give you that. And forget digital zoom...evil.

I've got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20PP. It is inbetween a small digicam and digital SLR sizewise, but has an honest -o-goodness 36-432mm optical lens on it that you can do autofocus or manual. It makes a big difference at the track. Most of these at LS were shot with it:

http://nostatic.com/photos/laguna05/

I still have a Canon SD400 that I try to carry everywhere (I've become an "art shot" addict), and a Nikon D70 that I actually don't use very often because I don't have the lenses i want for it yet...you need more than one camera

[cowtown]

Awesome photo, cegerer. I don't have anything to contribute to the thread, but am shopping for a camera also, so thanks.